The job that no Democrat wants
By: John Bresnahan and Manu Raju
November 4, 2010 02:50 PM EDT

It's the critical job that no Democrat seems to want but someone has to do — be the next chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2012 election cycle.

And Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is going to have to talk someone into doing it.

When asked on election night who would now lead the DSCC, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, the current chairman, answered jokingly.

"A crazy person," he quipped.

But Menendez may have a point.

Democrats have a nightmare election cycle looming, with 23 seats up for grabs in 2012, while Republicans have to defend only nine seats. Several of those Democrats are rookies who won in 2006 in formerly Republican seats in places like like Montana, Missouri and Virginia.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, is gunning for a Senate majority in 2012, and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, coming off a successful 2010 cycle, says he wants Republicans to finish the job in the next cycle.

Top aides say that Reid is already mulling over the possibilities for a successor and that talks have already begun to find a new chairman, a position that can significantly raise the profile of a rank-and-file senator and make him or her a national star.

But no clear candidate for the grueling job has yet emerged, and Reid’s spokesman, Jim Manley, declined to comment.

Many would-be candidates, like Menendez, are up for reelection in 2012 and have to worry about their own campaigns. And many who would seem to be ideal candidates so far have flatly rejected the idea. Menendez himself had to be talked into taking the job in the aftermath of the 2008 elections. If all else fails, some are even talking about bringing New York Sen. Chuck Schumer back to run the DSCC for a third cycle.

But for now, Democrats’ options appear rather limited.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, who doesn’t have to worry about reelection until 2014, has been repeatedly floated as a possible replacement because of his fundraising prowess and ties to business — but his spokesman said that it’s “absolutely not happening.”

What about Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley? A spokesman says Merkley has “no interest” in being DSCC chairman.

New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen? “Not interested,” her spokesman says.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has also taken himself out of consideration. Franken was seen as a potentially strong choice for DSCC chairman because of his fundraising prowess and widespread name recognition among potential donors.

But Franken has no interest in the assignment, according to his office. “Sen. Franken is focused on working for the people Minnesota and has no interest in heading up the DSCC,” said Ed Shelleby, Franken’s spokesman.

Other more junior senators have turned down the idea in interviews with POLITICO, including Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall and his cousin, Colorado Sen. Mark Udall.
More senior senators who are not in cycle are far more interested in chairing a Senate legislative committee to advance bills and bring home the bacon. And they’d rather not be consumed with endless fundraising, recruiting candidates and making critical decisions on where to spend a limited pot of money that can make or break a race.

While an enormous challenge, the position can also be rewarding politically and a steppingstone for bigger things.

Coming off the 2004 elections, when Democrats saw George W. Bush reelected and Senate Republicans grow their majority to 55-45, few thought Democrats would have a chance to win a Senate majority in 2006.

But the political environment shifted markedly, and Democrats won the Senate majority from the 2006 midterms — after which the then-chairman of the DSCC, Schumer, was rewarded with the No. 3 spot in Senate leadership, which still gives him enormous influence to shape the party’s political and legislative agenda. In 2008, Schumer increased his clout by staying on for another term as DSCC chairman and helping lead Democrats to a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority.

“I was saying to Chuck, ‘Have you lost your mind?'” Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said of Schumer’s repeated terms as DSCC chairman. “But we’re glad that he did it.”

Still, DSCC chairmen learn that the political environment can rapidly change. When Menendez took over after the 2008 elections, most Democrats and political analysts believed that the party would only add to their majority; instead, it lost at least six seats Tuesday night — and Democrats ultimately were relieved that they didn’t lose even more.

But even in the immediate aftermath of President Barack Obama’s sweeping win in 2008, Reid had to ask Menendez three times to agree to chair the committee; he ultimately did weeks after the November elections that year.

This year, with Reid winning his bruising reelection bid, there won’t be a race to succeed him as leader. And that has only increased speculation that Schumer — a possible Reid successor — may ultimately be pressured to return as DSCC chairman this cycle.

Schumer’s aides in the past have dismissed such speculation, but his spokesman, Brian Fallon, did not respond to an inquiry Thursday.